Can closure



Feb. 19, 1929. 1,702,786

H. A. MANDERSON CAN CLOSURE Filed Sept. 15, 1925 IN VEN TOR.

fizaw A TTORNEYKS Patented Feb. 19, 1929.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

HAROLD A. MANDERSON, OF CINCINNATI, OHIO, ASSIGNOR TO THE PROCTER & GAM- BLE COMPANY, OF CINCINNATI, OHIO, A CORPORATION OF OHIO.

CAN CLOSURE.

Application filed September 15, 1925. Serial No. 56,521.

My invention relates to the eneral art of leakproof cans and particular y to a novel closure for a can which shall be oil-proof and air tight.

6 It is the object of my invention to provide a can having a compression lid which shall be protected from leakage of oil or lard-like products packed in the can by the interposition of a gasket made of cellulose hydrate 10 which is a nitrated wood pulp product free of pores and fibres.

In the art can closures have been provided with compression lids in which a paper, cloth j 4. A cellulose hydrate gasket 5 of slightly or parchment sheet has been seamed within an annular ring and the joint between the ring and the body of the can, and compression tops have been provided which have been adapted to fit within the annular ring so that the general structure of my closure is wel known. For a long time attempts were made to utilize known structures to provide an oil-proof and air tight seamed closure but until my discovery cans made in accordance with known structures have been neither oil-proof nor air tight.

In packing a material such as edible oils and fats, three conditions require a completely hermetically sealed can. In the first place the closure must be proof against oil leakage. It is well known that oil will leak through a joint which will retain water and a great variety of semi-solid products such as paint so that attempts to utilize materials suggested in the prior art were unsuccessful because they were not oil-tight. The provision therefore, of a new type of closure was paramount in case the joints were to be oiltight. Secondly materials which are subject to oxidation are preserved much longer in their original sweet state if they are packed in an air-tight can. Lastly the closure must be provided with a gasket which is sufficiently pliable to seam in with the metal of the cans and provide a readily compressible joint which will have enough natural resistance and tenacity to resist leakage strains in uncompressed portions. The gasket material must also be sterile so'as not to contaminate an otherwise sterile food product. Preferably the'gasket should also be transparent to reveal the contents of the can.

' Considering the above requirements it should be noted that the several advances .type of closure:

Figure 1 is a sectional view showing the several parts prior to assembly.

Figure 2 is a sectional view with the parts assembled. Generally indicated at 1 is the bod of the can for which is provided an annu arring member 2 having an opening 3' of "sufiicient size to retain the compression lid shown at larger diameter than the body of the can 18 further provided and in seaming the annular ring onto the body of the can this gasket is crimped within the outer rim of the ring member and the bottom annular lip of the body of the can, preferably with a double overlapped crimp as shown, providin five thicknesses of metal and three of cel ulose hydrate. The lid for the can is provided by a regular type can bottom 6 havin an outer annular flange portion adapted to e seamed to the body of the can after filling.

The can is preferably manufactured in the can factory with the cellulose hydrate gasket seamed within the annular ring memer and the compression top in place. The

can is then delivered to the packer who fills the can from the bottom side and then seams in the bottom of the can. Byreversing the labels on the cans it will be obvious that the can will be packed in cases in a reversed manner to that in which the cans are filled, so that the consumer will naturally remove the compression lid and break the cellulose hydrate gasket just as if the can had been filled right side up.

The material packed in accordance with such a can structure will be exposed in the natural sweet state in which it was packed and the cellulose hydrate gasket being readily penetrable may be cut out with a spoon or other utensil with which the contents are to be removed.

It should be further'understood that the cellulose hydrate gasket not only provides a seamed joint between the flange of the annular ring and the body of the can, but it also keeps the oil or fat Within the body of the can from coming in contact with the joint between the compression lid and the inner flange of the annular ring until after the gasket has been broken. Can closures which are air tight and oil tight may be provided by seamed annular edges of tin against tin 50 that the provision of a cellulose hydrate gasket would be unnecessary excepting with a compression lid, as it is particularly this type of closure which has heretofore been impractical.

The cellulose hydrate being of such film like structure is readily fractured so that if the disc was not spaced from the friction lid after the can was filled, an oily product, which, at the time of filling, is substantially free flowing, would induce a tendency to squeeze the cellulose hydrate disc up into the opening between outer wall of the top and the inner wall of the ring member. The air pocket formed between the lid and disc forms an air cushion which resists the tendency of the material within the can forcing the cellulose hydrate into positions which with storage and handling of the can would tend to cause a fracture of the disc.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. A compression top can closure comprising in combination'with a can body and an annular ring member with an aperture adapted to retain a compression top lid, a cellulose hydrate disc seamed between the outer edges of the annular ring and the body of the can, said disc retained in interspaced position from the compression top lid when said lid is in compressed position within the aperture in the ring member.

2. A hermetically scalable can having a bottom portion provided with frictionally retained closing means, a top adapted to be hermetically sealed, and a cellulose hydrate disc extending across and seamed to the body of the can interspaced from the frictionally closing means. said disc adapted to form an oil-proof, leak-proof wall inhibiting the passage of material from the can to the frictionally closing means.

HAROLD A. MANDERSON. 

